Colleagues
by lozzalay
Summary: One shot. Grace and Daniel are colleagues...they can't be anything more... DanielOC. Set after "Threads"


Lozzalay: Hey guys, the idea for the story just sort of popped into my head a few days ago. I hope you enjoy!

Grace stared at the screen of her laptop, typing a little, then stopping to read the book in front of her and going back to her laptop. She put her pen down and leant back in her chair, stretching her arms above her shoulders and letting out one big sigh. She had been working profusely all week, trying to finish all the late reports that seemed to keep piling up on her desk. Her desk had become covered in so many reports that she decided to move to one of the dorm rooms available on the base. She figured she'd be able to get them done faster if no one could find her.

Not only did Grace have her own late reports, but also a certain rogue doctor's, whom she hadn't seen on the base for about a week. She wasn't surprised though; when Daniel Jackson went off world, he seemed to get himself into the most difficult situations. Grace thought back to the number of times he'd run in to his office, coffee in one hand, and run straight back out, carrying a report for some debriefing he had. She was a little jealous of him, though. Grace never got much of a chance to go off-world as he did. She had too much work to do at the base, but she loved listening to his stories about his missions off-world.

She was a bit worried, however. Usually when Daniel got himself into trouble, SG-1 were the first team to go to his rescue! But no one seemed to be doing anything about it. She had asked General O'Neill where Daniel was, but he would simply tell her that he was "off-world". Wouldn't tell her when he was due back, where he had gone – nothing! She just assumed that it must have been some "secret mission", and the less people that knew the better.

Leaning forward, she folded her arms on the desk, placing her head on them. She stayed there in silence, watching the flames from the few candles she had placed on the table flicker. Slowly, her eyes started to close. She was starting to get a little sleepy; constantly staring at books in silence had that effect on her. She soon heard the door open, but didn't bother to look to see who it was. She just sat there, paying attention only to her breathing.

"Damn, I've been found…" She noted, barely moving her mouth, her eyes still closed.

"Well, there's at least one person on this base knows where anyone is at any one time." Grace opened her eyes at the sound of the voice. She lifted her eyes and glared longingly at the large cardboard cup he held in one of his hands. She stood up as he shut the door. She smiled sweetly as she pinched one of the cups of coffee from him, walking back to her chair.

"Lucky I brought coffee for both of us." Daniel joked as he followed her, sitting in the chair next to her.

"Lucky…" She crawled back into her chair, folding her legs under her. Daniel glanced over her as she took a sip of her coffee. She looked the same as always. Her black curly hair was tied back in an off-centred ponytail that fell loosely upon her brown skin. She wore the standard SGC uniform; a black tank top with khaki green pants. Her boots were left near the door.

"So where have you been this whole time? Anywhere exciting?" Grace asked, curiosity gleaming in her eyes. She sat like a little child waiting for a big story, eager to find out what he'd been up to. She grasped the coffee in both hands and took a big gulp.

Daniel smiled at the expression on her face. She was like a big kid. She rarely took anything seriously and was always excited when he came back. She would ask millions upon millions of questions about what he got up to. He guessed it was because she didn't go off-world herself.

"You could say that…" he sighed, taking a sip of his coffee. What was he supposed to tell her? That he had been taken aboard a replicator vessel, killed by a replicator who looked like Sam, was offered the choice of ascending, didn't take it and was now back? That probably wasn't the weirdest thing she'd heard. He watched her as she rested her coffee on her knee, waiting eagerly for the whole 411.

"Well? Don't keep me in suspense! I want to know everything!" She nudged him with her foot. He smiled as she started to grow impatient with the lack of storytelling on his part.

"You wanna know?"

"Yes, Daniel."

"You really wanna know?"

"YES, Daniel!"

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, for crying out loud! Yes, Daniel, I want to know where the hell you were! You were gone for like a week! I wanna know what happened!" He laughed as Grace started to get more impatient with him.

"Ok, ok, I'll tell you." Grace let out a big sigh.

"Finally! You better have a good story! I don't want to hear that I've been doing your paperwork because you decided to take a vacation on another planet!" Grace poked her tongue out at him and smiled cheekily.

Grace and Daniel spent the next couple of hours talking about the events that had recently unfolded. Grace was shocked by some of the things he told her and was utterly amazed by others.

"Wow, well that is an amazing excuse." She sat back in her chair, placing the now empty cup on the table. He smiled. Grace was always cracking jokes and goofing around. She reminded him a lot of Jack. It was kind of refreshing to come back to the SGC and be greeted by someone who wasn't constantly pulling out their hair, worrying about the ever present threat of invasion.

"Just one question though…" Grace paused, trying to find the right way to phrase it so she wouldn't offend him.

"What?"Daniel asked, placing his empty cup on the table and titling his head a little to one side.

"Why did you come back? I mean, why didn't you ascend or whatever?" She asked. They sat in silence for a few moments as he thought about his answer.

"I guess...I just felt like my place was here right now." He replied, spinning his cup between his fingers. Grace leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

"Good! Then you can finish off the rest of these late reports!" Grace chuckled. He looked over at the number of reports she had brought with her to the room. He scratched the back of his head as he thought of how long it would take him to do them all.

"But I'm glad you came back, Daniel." Grace stated; her voice a lot softer than before. Daniel looked at her, a little puzzled by the sudden change in her tone.

"Work would definitely suck if you weren't around. I don't know what I'd do…" She smiled. A strange feeling lofted over her. She was suddenly overcome by sadness at the thought of losing Daniel. It wasn't the same sort of sadness you'd feel if you lost a friend. No, this was a lot deeper than that. Grace's smile soon faded and she looked down at the floor as she mentally fought with herself to get rid of this feeling.

Daniel watched as Grace lowered her face, stunned. What she had just said came totally out of nowhere. They had been working together for a couple of years now and they had grown close during that time. Daniel reached his hand over and lifted her face so he could look at her. Looking into her brown eyes, he noticed a tear was starting to form.

"Hey…" He started, his eyes softening to match hers. He had never seen her act this way before, and it was starting to worry him. Suddenly, Grace jerked back, sitting back in her chair.

"You know…my workload would double…and…" She said, jokingly as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Daniel watched as she got up from her chair and began to walk to the door.

"Grace…"It appeared to Daniel that Grace was lost in her own thoughts.

"Why am I tearing up? I must be tired…and I've been wearing my contacts for too long…"

"Grace..!"

"..just tired.."

"Grace!" She stopped at the sound of Daniel's voice. She had reached the door, her hand resting on the handle. She shut her eyes, still trying to fight back the tears. Daniel walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. He slowly spun her around to face him. Grace looked up into his blue eyes and found them full of concern for her. Her eyes then fell upon his lips, so close and yet at the same time so far away.

Daniel Jackson was a friend, a work colleague, nothing more. At least that was what Grace kept trying to tell herself. It was unprofessional to feel anything more for him and that was how it had to stay. Sure he was attractive and sensitive and a man you'd be more than happy to take home to your parents, but that couldn't happen. Grace had been fighting with herself for a while now about the mixed feelings she was getting whenever she was with Daniel. Part of her wanted to get closer to him, and one part wanted to beat the other for even thinking about it. She tried to shut out the thoughts from her mind, tried to think of other things and forget that she could feel his breath on her shoulder.

Daniel looked over Grace's face. Her mind seemed to be racing at a million miles an hour. She seemed to be in one of her trances; it took him yelling her name to snap her out of it. He couldn't tell what it was, but he knew there was something she was hiding; something she didn't want him to know. Whatever it was, it was eating at her. He lifted her chin with his finger and searched her eyes.

"Grace…" his voice softening again, "what's wrong?" they stood there in silence for a while. Grace shook he head forcefully, as if doing so would get rid of the lump in her throat.

"Nothing…it's nothing, Daniel, I'm fine." She smiled, weakly. There was no way that she could tell him what was on her mind. She tried to move away from him, but there wasn't enough room to get passed him.

"Grace, please, tell…" Daniel started, before he was cut off.

"Daniel! There is nothing wrong, OK?" her words were harsh. They remained in silence for a few more moments, Grace trying desperately to avoid eye contact. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep it together if she took even the slightest glance into his blue orbs. They always had such an effect on her. Maybe that was why she loved to listen to his stories; it gave her a chance to get lost in them.

"Look at me, Grace…" Daniel tried to get her to reveal what was wrong, "_look_ at me, please." Finally, their eyes met. Grace stared into his piercing blue eyes. It was like they had this overwhelming effect on her. It made her want to do things and say things that she knew she shouldn't. She felt like she couldn't hide anything from him when he looked into her eyes; it was like they were searching her soul.

"Daniel…I," she paused, her mouth open as if thinking of what to say next,"I…I…can't…we…can't…I…"

And finally, Daniel understood. He knew what she was hiding. It all became clear to him. He watched as she moved around uncomfortably, avoiding his gaze.

"Grace…"

"No, Daniel, don't…its stupid and ridiculous and there is no way-"

But a pair of soft lips stopped her rambling. She opened her eyes widely in surprise, but soon closed them and enjoyed the moment. A few seconds later, they parted. Their eyes met.

"Grace…I –"

"Shut up and kiss me." Grace had thrown all caution to the wind. Right now, she didn't care about the consequences; she was in love with Daniel Jackson and all she wanted was him. Her desire and passion took control of her body. She brought her lips to his, wrapping her arms around his neck, letting herself fall deeper into her emotions.

Daniel enclosed his arms around Grace's waist pulling her closer. He had never felt this way about another colleague before, but Grace…she was special. Feeling this way about a co-worker was completely unprofessional and would probably get them fired. But at that very moment in time, all Daniel wanted was to hold Grace. To feel her lips on his, run his hands through her dark curly hair and explore his every desire.

Slowly, they backed away from the door, moving closer to the table. They broke the kiss for a moment as if stopping to reflect on just what was about to go down. The room was deathly silent, but there was no need for words. It was as if they both knew what they wanted and how they felt. Slowly, Grace untied her hair, letting the curls fall down against her shoulders, while Daniel removed his glasses. Everything in the room became a blur, except for Grace. She looked up into his ice blue eyes, feeling her heart begin to beat faster and faster with every second.

Daniel brought his hand up, stroking Grace's cheek. She smiled softly, closing her eyes, taking in the sweet sensation of his fingers against her skin. He let his hand wander into her hair, feeling how soft it was. Soon, their lips were locked again and they began to move closer to the bed. Daniel lips quickly found their way to Grace's neck, placing soft kisses as they went along. Grace's breath started to become uneven, her desires becoming harder to control.

Grace reached up and slowly tugged off Daniel's SGC jacket, revealing a tight black shirt. She allowed her fingers to trace across his chest and down his arms, feeling the muscles tense as she worked her way around. Soon her fingers found their way to the place where his shirt and pants met. A small smile came over Daniel's face at the sensation of fingers outlining the edge of his pants. Placing her hands on either of his sides she looked up looked up at Daniel, a small smile on her lips before she began to kiss him again. Gently, she tugged his shirt out from under his pants, their lips only parting to pull the shirt over his head.

Daniel sat on the edge of the bed, pulling Grace onto his lap. They continued to kiss as Daniel's hands worked their way up the back of her shirt, playing with the band of her bra. Grace broke their kiss and pulled her shirt off, throwing it to the floor as she hurried picked up where she had left off. Daniel's kisses slowly made their way down to Grace's chest. He planted soft kisses along her collarbone as Grace ran her fingers through his hair. He eventually made his way down to her breasts, placing kisses between them.

Grace's mind was going out of control. The pure pleasure she felt from a single touch was addictive. She had to have more. Using her body, she pushed Daniel down onto the bed and began to kiss him again. Startled by the sudden movement, Daniel quickly rolled over so Grace was now lying underneath him. His hands made their way to the belt. As they kissed with unbelievable passion, his fingers undid her belt and she helped to slip off her pants.

The desire within Grace roared like a lion. She managed to roll them over again, leaving her on top. She sat up, with a leg on either side. Daniel looked at the sight in front of him. Grace's slender body over his, her chocolate skin glowing in the soft light of the room, her long hair falling around her face. She leant forward and began to leave kisses along his collarbone, stopping to suckle softly at the base of his neck. Wave upon wave of pleasure hit him with each kiss. He hadn't felt this way for many years, this uncontrollable urge to get as close as possible to another person. His breath became more unsteady as Grace continued.

"Grace…" he began to moan as she continued her way down to his chest.

"Grace…"

"Grace…" His voice more raspy as she continued down his body.

"Grace…"

"Grace!" Her eyes burst open and she sat straight up. She squeezed and rubbed her eyes and tried to focus her sight on the figure standing in front of her.

"I hope I didn't wake you from a good dream, Grace…" she noted the voice was male. Finally, her eyes adjusted to the light and she saw who had stirred her.

"Oh, it was, Dr Jackson…" She replied.

"Oh, well I'm sorry." He said as he sat down at the table across from her. He placed a cup of coffee in front of Grace.

"I hope this makes up for it." He smiled as he watched Grace launch a hand for the steaming cup. She smiled back, replaying the dream in her head. She took a sip of the coffee and let out a sigh.

"Don't worry about it. I'll pick up where we left off later…" she replied, resuming her work. Daniel smiled and did the same. A few moments of silent work went by.

"Wait, 'we'? What do you mean 'we'?" A confused Daniel asked. Grace looked up and smiled at his delayed his reaction.

She winked at him and continued to type up the rest of her report, not saying a word.

Lozzalay: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review! :D


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